Celebrity Badminton League will kick-start in Kochi on September 24.

The first season of the Celebrity Badminton League (CBL) 2016 is set to kick-start at regional sports center in Kochi on Saturday, September 24, with the first match between Kerala Royals and Tollywood Thunders.

The team members of Tollywood Thunders arrived in Kochi on Friday and was given a grand welcome by the Kerala team. "Thank You Kerala Royals for the Royal Welcome [sic]," Telugu team posted on their Facebook page.

Kerala Royals, owned by entrepreneur Ranjit Karunakaran, will play the matches under the captaincy of actor Jayaram. The other members of the team include vice captain Narain, Sekhar Menon, Saiju Kurup, Sreenath Basi, Rajeev Pillai, Rony David Raj, Arjun Nandakumar, Baiju, Parvathy Nambiar, Ranjani Haridas and Rosin Jolly. Mamta Mohandas and Pearle Maaney are the brand ambassadors and team motivators, respectively of the team, which will be competing against Sudheer Babu-led Tollywood Thunders on Saturday.

Though the first season of CBL was scheduled to begin on September 18 in Chennai, the matches between Chennai and Bengaluru teams were postponed due to the ongoing Cauvery issue between the states. The organisers are yet to announce the new match schedules.

The league matches will have three major categories – Men's Doubles, Mixed Doubles and Women's Doubles that will happen in Kochi, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. The finals will take place at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia on November 12.